Clock Strikes
by Flaming Platinum
Summary: [02/04] There was a reason why Kouichi appeared once again when evil needed him, though this time for an entirely different reason. Yet, with time a problem for both of them, neither can play a fool.
1. Chapter 1

**Finally got this plot bunny down, yay! Anyway, written for the Novel with Prompts challenge on the DFC, so this may not go exactly as planned.**

* * *

There were many reasons for his failure. Actually, a lot more excuses than actual reasons. And they all had to do with those kids that he always ran into.

Avoiding them really isn't a possibility; everywhere he caused trouble, they ran there. Trying to be heroes in a world designed for him.

But it really made everything a bit more interesting. The plans he had to make up, the Digimon he had to pick – it was far more entertaining than those extremely long math problems everyone thought he loved.

Though, he really didn't have a plan for this attack. Following a simple formula really wouldn't help, they'll just figure it out quicker. They seem to do that a lot now, even with his more elaborate plans.

-0-0-0-

Kouichi couldn't really tell what he was doing at the moment, but he was pretty sure that he wasn't sleeping.

The area was this rouge red color with occasional grey mist clouds. It kind of reminded him of that final battle with Lucemon.

He shuddered at this. Why remember that now? That was the little demon that swallowed him up, the one who forced him to do bad…

But there wasn't anything else to think of. He didn't know the group well enough to think of good times with them. Sure, they were funny, but it seemed like they only talked to him because of his relationship to Kouji. And even his brother didn't hang out with him much.

Which kind of explained why he was so vulnerable in the first place. He wasn't much more than an afterthought, remembered only when he did something good. After all, people leave when it's dark, but stay when it's light.

There really wasn't any reason he wouldn't be chosen. Darkness is normally associated with evil and other things of that notion. Of course people would freak out when they see him.

_Oh great, I'm thinking about it again. _But there wasn't any way to stop his mind from thinking about how useless he is. Even happy thoughts lead to the whole mind control thing.

Really, Kouichi was useless. He couldn't even help the group! Sacrificing barely helped, and what did he do for half of their adventure? Make their lives harder, that's what. Duskmon was a creature they feared, a creature they resented. It was a miracle that they accepted him into the group.

But still, they could be liars. He doesn't know for sure, but he actually doesn't know anyone well enough. He doesn't know what ticks them off or what makes them happy. All that he knows is that they're a group of kids that were once his enemy and now accepted him into their group. No strings attached, it seems. But there should be a reason.

_They were probably glad when I was gone… _It was then it hit him. This was Hell, and he's making up for all his sins.

That explains the coloration and why his guilt was amplified. It explained pretty much everything except for this: why hasn't any type of demon appeared?

Maybe his suspicions were wrong and he is wandering through his conscious at the moment. Another cause for amplified guilt.

Wasn't he knocked out when he fell? That could explain the reason why he was even in here, or why he has so much time to think.

Though it didn't explain the sudden darkness that came upon him. Yes, greyish mist clouds came and went, but not complete darkness.

Maybe he casted this on himself. Kouichi was unsure if there were any side-effects that came with his spirit. Plus, there should be a reason for the Spirit of Darkness to sync up with him. Maybe this is why.

He was about to turn away when a hole opened up. He could barely make it out since it was black as well, but there it was. There was no mistaking that silver lining.

Kouichi reached out to touch it. More out of curiosity rather than fear. The area where his hand was became the silver color that made the hole known.

It was definitely a portal to some place, but he just couldn't figure out where it led to – puzzles were never a strong point for him.

But there wasn't any point in stopping now. Kouichi continued to press the circle, revealing more silver spots until he finally got rid of the black completely.

Wrong move. The light shone on him, blinding to the point where he couldn't even see his own hand, which he had placed in front of face. It was a natural instinct, but one that didn't do much help.

-0-0-0-

There was grass.

It kind of surprised Kouichi that he'd land in grass. If this was the real world, then why would he be in grass? He was supposed to be at a train station…

He rolled over and brushed his blue hair out of his face. There wasn't anyone with him, so there was no way he could've ended up in the hospital – they'd have to watch him until he gets better.

But none of his theories explained why there was grass. Or why he was alone. Even if he was perfectly fine and was released from the hospital – which he has no idea if he even went there in the first place – he would have woken up in bed, not in grass. And someone would watch him, right?

Kouichi started to stand up. There wasn't any point in lying down anymore. But as he did, something caught his eye.

The animals looked like horses, but there were bits of shiny grey metal on them. And they didn't really look like the average horse with those purple spots.

The only name Kouichi could give them were Centarumon, since they did look so much like those creatures, but they were in the Digital World. And Kouichi wasn't sure if the Digital World was real or a myth.

But even if the Digital World was real, the one he saw was in shambles, so why this one was all lush and green?

It was definitely his imagination going wild. Nothing else could describe it.

-0-0-0-

Ken smirked as he watched what was going on from afar. The plan was working perfectly – none of those 'heroes' stood in his way. No more failure, only the glory he thought was his.

Though, there was one thing that irked him. That blue blur that was in the midst of the Centarumon's rampage. The blur wasn't making any move to get rid of the dark rings on the horse-like Digimon, but it could still be a threat.

_Unless…_ A plan started to form in Ken's mind. If the blur had zero idea that what was going on was bad, then there was a way that it could be of use to Ken.

He readied his whip and jumped down from the ledge, right in front of the herd. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but then again, they shouldn't run over him.

They did stop, making sure that there was at least six inches between them. Though, if it was done in fear of the whip, it wouldn't do much help.

Ken had to wait a bit for the pathetic partner to catch up with him. It was a waste to wait for him, but the silk thread he could spew would come in handy just in case the blur decided to resist.

As he made his way closer to the area with the blur, Ken realized that it was a person who was trying to avoid being hit, instead of a champion level Digimon like he had hoped.

"Who are you?" Ken asked rudely. The person – who turned out to be a boy – simply turned around to face the speaker.

Ken took a step back in shock. The boy looked a lot like his deceased brother. The only thing that prevented Ken to think that the boy was his brother was the fact that his clothes were different and he wasn't wearing glasses.

The boy shifted his gaze to Wormmon, looking a bit stressed out as he did so. "So I am in the Digital World…" he said.

_He knows about the Digital World? But that's impossible! _But even though the fact that the boy heard of the Digital World surprised Ken, he couldn't stop his mind from making a new a plan. A new plan that would surely help.

No more failure, no more excuses. Just him and world domination. And that alone was enough to please Ken.

"Come with me. You'll be of help."


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay. I couldn't think of anything using the prompts I was given, until I realized exact what I could do with one of the prompts. Anyways, made a couple of tweaks to the last chapter (just grammar and some wording) so hopefully, the quality of this story's better now**

* * *

"Now, to test you," Ken said, his reliable whip in his hand.

He needed to test how well this boy could handle anything. And a couple of whips shouldn't be that harmful. Well, at least compared to what those kids might throw at him. They were certainly merciless to the slaves that Ken happened to send out, which meant that they probably wouldn't hold back from this boy.

And there was also _that_ matter. The one where the boy just so happened to know about the Digital World. Ken would just have to question him on that later, though.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"You'll see." And he lashed the whip out, expecting to leave a bruise on the boy's cheek.

But he _caught _it. The boy caught the whip, and no one _ever _caught the whip. Maybe this was a good choice after all.

"Sorry, natural instinct," the boy apologized. He then let go of the whip, allowing Ken to retrieve it. "Want to try again?"

While there was fear in the boy's eyes, there was also some kind of determination. No matter, the boy asked Ken if he wanted to try again – which was a question that was never asked – and Ken was certainly going to try again.

And this time the whip made contact with the boy's cheek. The satisfying smack proved it.

But Ken expected to find the boy at his knees from the pain. Yet he did the opposite.

While it did look like the boy took damage from the whip – why else would his hand cover where he was whipped – he wasn't forced down. And while the hit wasn't strong enough to draw blood, it should've been able to force him to topple over, or knock him to the ground, depending on how strong the boy was.

"Anymore?" the boy asked, his voice quivering a bit.

"No. But I'm going to need you to stop asking question and to start answering them."

-0-0-0-

Kouichi didn't like the rude and abrasive tone his capturer had – it reminded him too much of that time – but he followed because he was scared.

His capturer could harm him again; like he did with that whip...what was the point of that again? To test him, wasn't it?

Kouichi sighed and brought his hand up to his cheek. Both it and his right hand were sore from the whip. And while there wasn't any blood, it was painful.

Actually, it seemed that all his capturer left him with was pain. Two strokes of a whip, done intentionally, and bitter responses. It doesn't seem like his capturer wanted to help him save this Digital World, or at least what Kouichi guessed to be one.

And wasn't Kouichi supposed to be answering questions at the moment? Yet there weren't any thrown at him, despite his capturer making it clear that he was the one who was going to ask the questions now.

"How did you get here?" the figure in front of him finally asked, with his abrasive tone kept.

Kouichi was going to ask what he meant by 'how did he get here', but he was told very sternly to not ask questions. It would be better to answer anyways. Even if he wasn't sure of the details himself.

"I just entered, through my mind…or Hell…whatever that place was." It sounded like a lie to him, even though he knew that was exactly what happened. And it didn't seem like the kid, if he could call him that, was buying it. Though, he continued.

"There were complications from the last world I was –"

"This doesn't answer why you know of the Digital World!"

He should've asked that in the first place. But Kouichi knew better than to talk back. Especially since that whip was still in his hand...

"I…well, how I got there is fuzzy. But for the longest time I was an evil Digimon and then my brother saved me, and then I helped them save the Digital World and then…well, I…died."

Kouichi expected another outburst (his capturer seemed to like doing that) or some kind of answer, but there was nothing. No words. Just a mouth opened wide in surprise.

_Can't ask questions, _he reminded himself, despite wanting to ask what was so surprising. Even if the Digital World got heavily remodeled in the short time he was gone, people would surely remember those legendary heroes, even if he probably wasn't a part of it.

"Nonsense! But –" a grin formed on the capturer's face "- you prove more useful to me than you did before."

Uneasiness filled Kouichi. While he hadn't given much thought to what was said when they first met – he was too busy trying to figure out what was going on – but now he was able to. And serve of use could mean a lot of different things. Like for instance… Kouichi didn't even want to think about that.

"You are to call me Master, for you are my servant. And you are to obey my every command. Talking back to me," He smirked, "well, I'll just let you find out for yourself."

_Master? _He just couldn't. It reminded him too much of that situation, the one where he was Duskmon. Cherubimon was his master then and he forced him to do all those horrible things and it caused him to think that he was someone who didn't deserve anything. Like the brother he should've enjoyed, but couldn't. The friends he should've enjoyed as well, but just couldn't.

"Don't get K– I mean Master angry like that," a voice said.

Kouichi turned around to face the speaker, who happened to be a Digimon he couldn't recognize. He knew he saw it before, but he just couldn't remember the name.

But then he turned to face his capturer ('Master' was reserved for speech) and realized exactly how angry he was. As if he noticed Kouichi's anger from the title master.

"Wormmon!" he spat, lashing his whip out.

Kouichi narrowly avoided getting hit. Even though the whip was meant for the Digimon Wormmon, his capturer didn't seem to care who got hit with the whip.

The whip missed Wormmon by a longshot, mainly because it was still by the door frame, but it was still successful in doing its purpose. Which was sending a jolt to Wormmon, apparently.

"I had enough of you two! Wormmon, show this boy the ropes."

Wormmon did what it was told and took Kouichi away from Ken, going outside instead of staying indoors.

-0-0-0-

It was official. Wormmon was way better than its 'master'. Way better.

While it didn't say anything about his status to its 'master', nor did it share any personal events, it asked Kouichi questions, nicely. And things that Kouichi could actually answer, like his name.

Though, the any knowledge of the Digital World question was a tough one. Judging by his capturer's reaction to everything, the story either made no sense or he was just shocked by the fact he wasn't the first human in the Digital World.

"It's okay if you can't answer it. I know my Master probably put you in enough pain," Wormmon said, noticing the long time it took for Kouichi to answer.

"Ah no, it's okay. I guess you could say I know the basics," Kouichi responded, not knowing how to answer correctly. But Wormmon wasn't showing to be much of a threat, so there was room for a little white lie.

"I should probably tell you about those kids now," Wormmon said, fiddling with its two front legs.

"Those kids?" Kouichi had no idea what Wormmon was talking about. Though, considering its job was to show him the ropes, he'd probably tell him about them anyways.

"I get it, you aren't familiar with them. Don't worry, I'll explain."

And it did explain, better than his capturer would have. Wormmon went from how there were always these five kids that would ruin its 'master's' plan and they were really kind to their partners…like they were.

"Like who were?" Wormmon asked. It just then hit Kouichi that he said that last bit out loud.

"Oh, no one," Kouichi said, laughing a rather fake laugh to cover it out. Despite Wormmon being the kindest thing to him since he came to this Digital World, he couldn't bring this up. It was just too confusing.

"Oh…" But Wormmon didn't give it much mind. It got up soon after it spoke, waddling off to who knows where, leaving Kouichi to think for himself.

But to be honest, after everything that happened, from the first Digital World to the second, Kouichi didn't want to think. Instead, he wanted out.


End file.
